Wednesday, June 4, 2008

As I mentioned previously, this past Sunday we celebrated our son's first birthday. While our day certainly ended well, it started out with a very terrifying experience. We were upstairs and heard this rapid pounding; very loud, made our house shake. It sounded like it was right in our backyard. We had no idea what it was. A minute or two passed and then we heard it again. We looked outback but didn't really see anything so we took the kids out front and started watering the plants.

Within a few minutes a cop came speeding in and asked my husband where the shots came from. My husband told him where he thought the sound originated from and we rushed the kids inside. Now, gunshots are not a common occurrance in our neighborhood. We live in a quiet neighborhood in a good part of town. There is very little crime in our area. So, this was shocking.

After the cops all show up we went out back to where we could have a good view and overheard that a man drove through and shot up multiple houses with an assault rifle and then took off. Obviously, the events unfolded over the next few hours and more information has come to light in the past few days. Turns out this crazed shooter lived in our neighborhood, had a history of mental problems, went and put 40-plus rounds from an assault rifle through the front door of house #1, ripping through the couch and back wall and ending up in the backyard. The homeowner, thankfully, was not home. He then sprayed a second home with 40-plus bullets as well. These people were home, but were uninjured. He then led police on an hour long chase across town; he shot three cops, one of whom died the next day. There are many more details that are not pertinent to the point of this post. My point is this: We are so lucky. We were outside with our children as this shooter sped off. We have been living around the corner from him. My kids play in the common area that backs up to his backyard. The homes he shot were targeted homeowners with which he had disagreements. One of whom was the man whose backyard was directly across from the shooters. What if my kids were too loud one day and he chose us as targets? You never think this type of thing will happen where you live, but it did.

We have much to be thankful for. Things could have been much worse. They were awful enough. A man with a young daughter turning one this weekend was killed. As we celebrate our son's first year of life it is depressingly tragic that he and his wife won't get to celebrate their daughter's first year together. Instead they will be burying their husband and father.

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